Tag Archives: Diversity equity and inclusion

Let’s Talk About Differences

Posted on February 11, 2023 | 52 comments

Earlier this week, “06880” posted about TEAM Westport’s 2023 Teen Diversity Essay Contest.

The 10th annual event focuses on “The Dialogue Challenge: Effective Engagement on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and LGBTQIA+.”

The prompt says:

Team Westport’s mission is to make Westport a more welcoming community with regard to race, religion, ethnicity, and LGBTQIA+. In order to achieve its mission, one of TEAM Westport’s goals has been to promote opportunities for people to come together in dialogue to better understand each other’s experiences, decrease bias, and learn what we have in common. Meaningful dialogue depends on a good faith effort to set aside preconceived beliefs or what we think we know about other people.

In 1,000 words or less, reflect on your own interactions with people who have different racial, ethnic, religious, and/or LGBTQIA+ identities and/or perspectives. What kinds of conversations were particularly helpful in prompting you to rethink your beliefs or opinions, perhaps causing you to change your mind or enabling you to better understand others’ points of view? Based on these experiences, what specific actions would you suggest that individuals, schools, and/or town entities in Westport take to promote good-faith dialogue, reduce bias, and foster understanding?

It’s an important, in-depth and nuanced question.

But there’s no reason it should be limited to high school students.

Alert “06880” reader — and back-in-the-last-millennium Staples High School graduate — Clark Thiemann wrote in the Comments section:

Would love to see a version of this contest for all town residents. While I’ve found our high school students among the most thoughtful on these topics, I’d like to hear about how to have good conversations with people of different backgrounds and generations that might help break through walls.

Clark nailed it.

So let’s open it up to all “06880” readers.

What do you think? How can we have “good conversations with people of different backgrounds and generations that might help break through walls”?

Feel free to post in the Comments section. You can email too: 06880blog@gmail.com. I can post those in a stand-alone story.

Unlike the TEAM Westport Teen Essay Contest, there are no cash prizes.

But the payoff will be a much-needed town-wide discussion, on a topic that’s crucial to us all.

(NOTE: Most readers often fire off their comments — that’s the nature of a blog. For this one, please take time to consider what you’re saying, and how you say it. Please be civil; no ad hominem attacks. And of course, please use your full, real name.)

(“06880” is your place for discussions — important, interesting and occasionally trivial. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

52 Comments

Posted in Politics, religion, Westport life

Tagged Diversity equity and inclusion, TEAM Westport

TEAM Westport Teen Essay Contest Begins

Posted on February 6, 2023 | 51 comments

TEAM Westport’s 2023 Teen Diversity Essay Contest prompt is very timely.

The 10th annual event focuses on “The Dialogue Challenge: Effective Engagement on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and LGBTQIA+.”

Here is the prompt:

Team Westport’s mission is to make Westport a more welcoming community with regard to race, religion, ethnicity, and LGBTQIA+. In order to achieve its mission, one of TEAM Westport’s goals has been to promote opportunities for people to come together in dialogue to better understand each other’s experiences, decrease bias, and learn what we have in common. Meaningful dialogue depends on a good faith effort to set aside preconceived beliefs or what we think we know about other people.

In 1,000 words or less, reflect on your own interactions with people who have different racial, ethnic, religious, and/or LGBTQIA+ identities and/or perspectives. What kinds of conversations were particularly helpful in prompting you to rethink your beliefs or opinions, perhaps causing you to change your mind or enabling you to better understand others’ points of view? Based on these experiences, what specific actions would you suggest that individuals, schools, and/or town entities in Westport take to promote good-faith dialogue, reduce bias, and foster understanding?

Al students attending high school in Westport — or who live here, and attend high school elsewhere or are home-schooled — are invited to enter.

Subject to the volume and caliber of entries received, at the discretion of the judges, up to 3 cash prizes will be awarded. First prize is $1,000; second place is $750; third is $500.

Click here for contest entry rules online. The deadline is February 28. Winners will be announced April 18, at a ceremony at the Westport Library (co-sponsor of the contest).

“With the controversy and misinformation surrounding dialogues on diversity, equity and inclusion from national to local levels, there is nothing more important than what works for effective connection and genuine understanding,” says TEAM Westport chair Harold Bailey, Jr.

“Now at the advent of our first decade of the Teen Diversity Essay Contest, TEAM Westport welcomes the opportunity for Westport youth to weigh in on this critical question.”

First Selectwoman Jen Tooker adds, “I encourage the youth of our town to participate in discussions and programs that will enhance their experience in Westport, and ultimately, in the world beyond. I am confident that through their words, they will demonstrate that Westport is a community that welcomes conversation.”

“The Westport Library has made a fundamental commitment to creating and supporting inclusive communities, spaces, collections, and programs,” notes director Bill Harmer. “The annual TEAM Westport essay contest supports and extends our obligation to social justice, and ensuring a culture where all people are welcomed, valued and encouraged to succeed.”

51 Comments

Posted in Politics, Teenagers

Tagged Diversity equity and inclusion, TEAM Westport

Westport Values On Display Downtown

Posted on April 12, 2022 | 23 comments

The sign went up quietly recently, on the bank of the Saugatuck River by the Taylor Place parking lot.

(Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)

Under the heading “Westport Values” — and above photos including a multiracial family, one with 2 dads, an Asian American woman and a resident in his 90s — the text says that our town is “committed to fostering a civic culture that provides the equitable respect, belonging and treatment of all citizens, students, employees and visitors by its populace, government, schools, business and organizations.”

It mentions “races, ethnicities, religions, genders, abilities and LGBTQIA+,” but notes that the town’s civic culture commitment is not limited to those groups.

It adds: “Building on the richness of the past while acknowledging the challenges of its history, the Town of Westport commits to proactively making the town genuinely welcoming and inclusive.” (Click on or hover over the photo below to read the full statement.)

(Photo/Dan Woog)

A QR code brings up the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion page on the town website.

(Photo/Dan Woog)

Many residents don’t know the sign is there, or haven’t noticed it.

A few have contacted “06880” to applaud it. The town is taking a firm stand, they say, in a very public place.

A few others are not thrilled. They consider it unnecessary, or unnecessarily woke.

The sign is part of a continuing effort to add historical balance to town markers, and address past exclusions. Plaques have already been placed behind Town Hall, and on Elm Street near what was once a thriving African American neighborhood.